In the Dead of Night
by J'aimel'anime44163
Summary: Some trainers journey to become the best and some others journey for the fame and money. Very few journey for escape. This is the story of the journey one such trainer.
1. Freedom

**Freedom**

It was a quite night. The skies were clear and there was a soft warm breeze blowing over the town of Pallet. The stars were bright and the people were peacefully sleeping. Well, every one of them except for me of course. I could never sleep at night, being an insomniac. I couldn't sleep because I was scared. I was scared that my father would come in one night and kill me. He had threatened to do it before and he had already killed my older sister, whom I dearly missed. Nobody knew what happened; only that she had gone missing. My mother had passed away when she had given birth to me, leaving my crazy father to snap and become an alcoholic. When my father drank, he got angry and when he got angry, he started hitting things. Well not so much as things as me and my now deceased sister. She had gone for the day to visit a friend and my father thought that she had gone to the authorities to report him so when she came back, he had told her he wanted to speak to her and dragged her screaming and kicking into his room. There was the sound of a lot of things breaking and screaming that went on for a while and then silence fell upon the house. While this was happening I was in my room, door locked and hiding in the closet. I was too scared and young to run away, being only five at the time of my twelve year old sister's death.

I sighed again and turned away from the window, looking at the bed sheets of a bed that hadn't been used in years. Shaking the memory of my sister's death from my mind, I turned to the book in my lap. It was a fairly good one about a man that was trapped in the basement of a house with a woman and her daughter. Many had assumed this book to be a slightly innocent romantic one when they had bought it but at the beginning of the second chapter they clearly saw that it was not. It was a horror story that involved the detailed torture of the little girl while the mother watched helplessly. Call me a little morbid but this is what I did to pass the nights. My father paid me for doing chores and I spent the money on books. Don't ask what happened because I don't know. The day after my sister's 'disappearance' my father stopped drinking and tried to get his act together. I would never forgive him and he knew that but he always tried to seek for forgivness. It was an impossible goal, if he had cleaned up his act before he had murdered my sister, I would have forgiven him but she was the one who taught me to survive in this house and as such I was deeply attached to her. My fear was deep-rooted and instinctual and as such I asked my dad for lessons in the martial arts. At first he was hesitant, his job gave him good money but he didn't want to waste it, he was raised on the streets after all, he knew the importance of money. I never sank down to pleading for the lessons, I simply demanded them with a determined glint in my eyes and he caved. Now, I was equipped with enough knowledge to handle him if it ever came to that.

I shook my head again, what was with me reminiscing on so much of my life tonight? I put the book down and gave up on resisting the flow of thoughts and let my life wash over me while somehow still being able to be completely be aware of my surroundings. This was a skill I had developed when I was young; I was always aware of my surroundings. At school, I didn't talk to anyone and nobody talked to me, it was a very simple, yet unspoken rule among the students. They didn't want to get too close to the freak after all. I have no idea why they called me a freak but hey, such was the way of people: to judge without knowing anything. Well, there was one person who talked to me, bless her heart. She was probably one of the nicest people you would ever meet. Cute and even smaller than me, Cheryl Jundo had short brown hair in a ponytail and bright blue eyes. She always wore a lavender off-the-shoulders sweater with a tank top underneath and white jeans with some silver flats. She was the only reason I didn't go insane in this upturned world of mine. She knew everything about me. Everything except for the fact that I was going on a journey, she couldn't know. If she did she would probably kidnap me and keep me with her, as sweet as she was, if it meant saving one of her friends, she would go to surprising lengths. See thing is that Sabrina has a very severe case of poképhobia, at the mere mention of pokémon she throws a fit, so her knowing I was going on a journey was a very big no-no.

Brushing aside thoughts of Sabrina, I stood up from the chair I had been sitting in and quietly walked to the window. I was always quite, even ten years after my father had changed; I was still quite. I looked in the reflection of the glass and read the clock on my nightstand.

11:59

I was one minute away from my sixteenth birthday, the day I could finally leave the house. Yes, I did say house, I don't use the word home because as I have ready in many books, home is where the heart is and my heart was not here. When the clock finally struck 12 o'clock, June 21st, I left the window and grabbed my already packed bag that was on the floor. It had several sets of clothes in it and traveling food for when I was on the road. It was a plain black backpack that didn't draw any attention. Shrugging the heavy thing onto my shoulders, I looked at the mirror in my room. I may have many flaws in character but at least I still cared enough about how I looked to make myself decent. I had wavy midnight black hair that cascaded down my back, grey eyes that sometimes looked blue, and a very slim figure. I had high, delicate cheek bones, elegantly arching eyebrows and a strong but not overly large nose. I stood at 5"4' and had small curves, not like some of the girls from my school whose chests and asses looked oversized. I was wearing a simple black short-sleeved shirt that hugged my body and sloped down slightly at my breasts, revealing only a slight amount of cleavage. I was also wearing washed out jeans that accentuated my legs. I actually had nice legs; something that came out of standing around so much. On my feet were black combat boots that laced up to my shins and attached to those were two knife holsters. They both held large, wickedly curved knives that had ebony hilts. On the waist of my jeans was a holstered gun. Traveling would be dangerous, more dangerous than anybody actually gave it credit for. Slung at an angle across my hips was my belt. One end was in a belt loop while the other came down to halfway down my thigh. On my neck there was a black satin chocker that had a small orb dangling from it. The marble sized orb was completely black with blue and fuchsia air-bubble-looking dots in it. They seemed to glow but radiated no light aside from inside the orb. It was mesmerizing in its mystic beauty.

Satisfied that I looked good enough, I turned from the mirror. Even with the heavy backpack on my shoulders I made no noise. I walked over to the wall plug next to the door and unplugged my phone and I-Pod. Stuffing the chargers and the I-Pod in my bag, I walked to the door with my phone in my hand and opened it to the empty hallway. We had a small house and as such there were only two rooms in the hall. It was bare wood that seemed that would usually make noise but not for me, I walked down the hall and then the stairs silent as a ghost. At the bottom of the stairs was the living room/dining room. There was a TV on one wall and two couches ringed it and on the other side of the room there was a dining table. On the dining table there was a box wrapped in simple red wrapping paper with a yellow bow on it. I walked over to it, stuffed my phone in my pocket and opened it, making an incredibly small amount of noise. In the box there was a badge case, a shrunken pokéball, a wallet and a pokédex. I took out the badge case first and stored it in my bag. Next I grabbed the wallet; inside there was a credit card and a hundred dollars. And my Trainer's ID, I took a few seconds to take it in, my ticket to freedom.

_Name: Jane Sakaki_

_Age: 16_

_Sex: Female_

_Height: 5"4'_

_Weight: 106lbs. _

Next to all that was a picture of me. Most trainers smile for the picture but I decided not to, leaving me with an impassive look in the picture. I closed the wallet and stuffed it into my pocket before turning to the box once again.

Sitting alone at the bottom was a pokéball. I picked it up and enlarged it, allowing the large sphere to rest in my hands. It felt warm and alive, completely unlike how I thought that it would feel. Taking a deep breath, I held out the pokéball and said, "Come on out," in a quite whisper. In bright flash of light, a blue ball of gas appeared. Inside the gas there was a purple head with slanted eyes and a grinning mouth with fangs. I felt myself smile a little; I had always liked ghost pokémon and having one for a starter was perfect. Taking the pokédex out of the box, I opened it and turned it to it.

"_Gastly, the Gas Pokémon. Its body is made of gas. Despite lacking substance, it can envelop an opponent of any size and cause suffocation. This Gastly's shiny coloring raises its speed and attacking attributes. This Gastly is a male and has the ability Levitate. This Gastly knows the moves Lick, Psywave and Hypnosis."_

"Nice," I whisper. I then put it in my pocket for later use.

"Gas," he said then laughed. I frowned slightly; I had no idea what he just said. I opened my mouth to say exactly that when I felt like something was probing my mind. I froze in place and glared at him. He gave me a shit-eating grin and stopped.

"Like I was about to say, I have no idea what you are saying," I quietly said to him. I didn't want to wake my father after all.

"Gas," he frowned. I suddenly felt a whispering in my ears. Focusing on that, I managed to hear, _"Are you ever going to name me, human?"_

I gasped and watched him snicker. I blew some air out of my nose before saying, "Well then, you want a name?"

He nodded, which was weird because it looked like he was about to start rolling around. I giggled a little, "Well then your name shall be Saiko; by the way my name is Jane Sakaki, pleased to meet you."

(0.0)

Saiko floated beside me as I walked out of the house and started down the dirt road to the edge of our small town. We talked about nonsensical things as we walked along, getting to know each other a little. I explained my life to him and he remained quite during and after. I somehow felt like I could trust my little Saiko even though I had just gotten him. I stopped about ten minutes into our walk at the edge of Pallet Town. Looking into the glorious night, I sighed. I then looked at Saiko and he looked at me. Understanding flashed in his eyes. I nodded and took my first step into the world, a world that would prove much more dangerous than where I first came from.


	2. Starting Out

**Starting Out**

After a few minutes of walking, Saiko got bored and decided to bother the wild pokémon that were nesting along the road. I would laugh along with him as he spooked some Rattata and send them running or when he made some of the Pidgey nesting in the trees squawk and flap away.

We were laughing at the last scare he had done, he had floated around invisible and murmured his name until the Pidgey woke up and looked around when it turned and looked directly at Saiko; he appeared and screamed out his name, scaring the Pidgey shitless. It screeched and started flapping its wings so hard that feathers had started flying all over the place. We laughed for a while at that one.

Saiko spotted a large tree a little ways up the path once our laughing had died down.

"_Hush and stay here human, I sense another pokémon in that tree." _He flat out refused to call me by my name but I guess calling me human was better than calling me vermin or something along those lines.

I quietly walked over to the tree to see what he was doing, completely ignoring the fact that he had told me to stay back. I knew I was quiet enough not to spoil his scare. Saiko was floating over a nest. It was probably another Pidgey. He opened his mouth impossibly wide and a large tongue lolled out. He was going to lick the Pidgey in its sleep. I stifled a giggle and watched in anticipation. True to his name Saiko the Psycho licked it but not only that, he swallowed the whole Pidgey into his mouth. I laughed and snorted for probably the first time in my life watching as it tried to escape Saiko's mouth. He spit it out and it squawked before landing unceremoniously on the floor, dripping wet with saliva. I took a closer look and immediately stopped laughing. This wasn't a Pidgey, this was a Spearow.

"Saiko move! It's a Spearow!" I yelled. He seemed to realize the importance of the situation because he stopped laughing and floated over to me just as the bird pokémon let out a horribly loud screech.

"Crap," I muttered. I started running down the path towards Viridian and away from the Spearow. Next to me was Saiko, keeping up with what looked like ease. Hearing a screech, I looked behind me. There, gaining on us, was a flock of Spearow and even a couple of Ferow that seemed hell bent on catching us for disturbing their rest and probably for leaving one of their own in a puddle of saliva on the floor. I sped up, trying to stay ahead of them and make it to Viridian before they could get to us. One of the suddenly swooped down toward us and I had to duck to dodge the hit. Beside me, Saiko let out a Psywave, knocking the Spearow to the floor. I was surprised to see that it had fainted. Not dwelling on the thought, I struggled to speed up. I was running the fastest I had ever run and even then the Fearow and Spearow were having no problem keeping up with me. I stopped, took the bag off my shoulders and swung it at the next Spearow that dive bombed me. It went flying and skidded to a stop a few feet away from me. I noticed another Spearow being felled by a wave of purple energy; Saiko was standing by me. I looked over and our eyes met; in his all I noticed was determination. Turning my attention back to the flock, I swung my bag once again, knocking two away. True to the Pokédex's information, Saiko was dashing all over the place taking down Spearow after Spearow, never seeming to tire. Saiko dodged all the attacks that were thrown at him, making the Spearow hit each other and beginning several fights amongst the Spearows. I would have laughed if I wasn't so busy dodging the Spearow, even in the middle of a battle, Saiko was causing mayhem.

Eventually the Spearow had fallen or were retreating, leaving a pair of Fearow that were standing on the branches to look at us; their eyes full of malice. I was breathing hard by this point, never having to fight a flock of Spearow before. Well, there probably wasn't a large amount of people that could claim to have done that…

My bag was in tatters and I was scratched, bleeding, bruised and sore all over. Saiko wasn't fairing much better, firing off so many Psywaves had made him exhausted. He was floating close to the ground and was breathing heavily. They weren't going to be able to fight off the Fearows, this was it for them. I watched helplessly as the large bird Pokémon took flight and started circling us, they knew they were going to win and as such took their time. I took that time to think about a way to get out of this mess. Putting my hands on my hips, I felt my gun. While it wasn't legal to kill pokémon, if you thought that they were going to kill you and you had no other way to handle them then you were allowed to kill them. I looked down at the gun, deep in thought. I really didn't want to do this but I wasn't going to let Saiko keep fighting, he was too tired and he could get killed and hitting a Fearow with a backpack wasn't going to do much. Heaving a huge sigh, I pulled my gun out of its holster, clicked off the safety and pulled the hammer back. It looked like I didn't have any other choice. I pointed it straight up at the nearest Fearow just as it dived toward us… It was diving towards Saiko. In a panic, I moved faster than I thought I could. I pushed a strangely, somewhat substantial Saiko out of the way and looked at the diving Fearow, too close to dodge already. I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.

"_Watch out human!" _I could faintly hear Saiko yelling at me to dodge, do anything but stand there and be killed.

"Dragonite use Hurricane!" a masculine voice yelled out.

I barely had time to open my eyes before a massive wind sent the diving Fearow off into the trees with an incredible amount of force; knocking several of the trees down. It was strong enough that even though it was meant for the Fearow, it managed to knock me down.

"_Human, are you okay?"_ Floating directly over my head was Saiko.

"Yea, I'm fine, sore but fine." I stood up, groaning all the while.

"Glad to hear it."

I turned around. The eyes were the first thing that I noticed. They were an amber color so light that they looked yellow burned like fire. There even was red around the pupils. They were mesmerizing.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked. I started; I had been staring like an idiot. I shook my head as I felt my cheeks warm up.

"Yea, I'm fine, don't worry about me. Thanks for all the help by the way; I really didn't want to kill a Fearow on my first night." I winced at the words, they sounded… much too brave for someone who constantly lived in fear.

"Good, still, I'm sorry for Dragnoite knocking you over," just as he said that a large bi-pedal pokémon, orange in color, with small wings that had a green membrane, antennae, and a small horn on top of his head landed next to the trainer. The trainer himself was pretty tall, probably bordering on six feet and had messy dirty-blonde hair and handsome features. He was wearing a dark red shirt with low-riding dark jeans and brown hiking boots. He was probably a year or two my senior as well. "Oh and if you don't mind my asking; how exactly were you going to kill a Fearow?" he asked.

Remembering my gun, I began looking around for it, seeing as I had dropped it when it I had fallen. I noticed it a couple feet away from me. I walked over to it and picked it up. Holding it up for him to look, I clicked the safety on. I then put it away and looked up to see his wide eyes.

"What?" I huffed. Being attacked by a flock of Spearow and Fearow can make someone irritable ya know?

"What the hell are you doing with a gun?!" he asked, obviously alarmed.

"I have a license to carry one; most beginning trainers do now-a-days," I scoffed. He frowned.

"Why would you need one though?" he questioned.

"You're forgetting something," I told him, avoiding his question. While it was true that _some_ beginners carried guns, those that did only came from the rundown parts of large cities, where crime was abundant and getting your mail was dangerous, not in little, safe towns such as Pallet.

"What?"

I pointed up. He did a double-take before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and grinning sheepishly.

"Dragonite, use Thunderpunch," he commanded, turning to look at his pokémon. The dragon pokémon nodded in assent and jumped, flying towards the remaining Fearow who had been keeping itself at a distance at a blinding speed. I took the chance to pull out the pokédex and scan it.

_Dragonite, the Dragon Pokémon. It is said to make its home somewhere in the sea. It guides crews of shipwrecks to shore. This Dragonite is a female._

"Huh, it doesn't show anything else other than this," I murmured to myself.

"That's because he is already mine. The pokédex only shows more information on pokémon that are already yours." I looked up, surprised he had heard me.

He grinned cheekily. "Good ears," he explained.

I flinched as the Fearow crashed into the ground beside me. Looking over, I saw that it was twitching and that electricity was arching in between its feathers.

"Man, I wish I had a pokéball to catch one of them in," I groaned.

"Why don't you have one?" he asked once again. Man this guy sure liked to ask questions. Speaking of which I didn't even know his name or how he had managed to find me in the first place.

"Listen bub," I began, "I don't even know who you are or how you found me so I don't know why you are asking so many questions."

He grinned sheepishly once again, "My name is Damian Dreiku and I saw the light show your Gastly put up a couple minutes ago. I thought that I had better go over there to see if anyone needed my help, good thing I did too." By the end of his sentence he was smiling proudly, like he had accomplished something huge. It faltered when under my withering glare. I mean, other than me, who stayed up so late at night as to see our fight? Not only that but who would go towards a situation that was so potentially dangerous in the first place?

"What are you doing up so late?" I continued.

"What are you doing up so late?" He countered.

"Insomnia," I answered, "What's your excuse?"

He opened his mouth to say something then closed it, probably thinking better about it.

"Come on then," I coaxed, "What dirty little secret are you hiding?"

"I was training," he replied with great pride.

"For what?" I ask, confused. I get training but what person would stay up so late to train, other than me of course.

"For the League Challenge, I am participating in the Indigo League this year," he smiled. Goddamn, he was too cute.

"That's nice…" I murmured.

"Are you gonna participate this year?" he asked, an eager look on his face.

"Uh… no, I'm not very interested in that," I reply, wincing when his eager look faded and was replaced with disappointment.

"What's your name again, I didn't catch it," he not so subtly asked.

I smirked, "I didn't give it." I felt Saiko nudge my shoulder with his…. head? Body? I don't even know. Looking at him in surprise I noticed that he was extremely exhausted.

"I gotta go," I told Damian then returned Saiko to his pokéball and began walking hurriedly towards Viridian.

After a minute of walking, he flew up beside me on the back of his Dragonite.

"I'll give you a ride to Viridian in exchange for a name," he said with a gleam in his eyes.

"I take it that you're not going to give up huh?"

He laughed, "Nope." He then held out his hand, obviously expecting me to accept the offer.

I giggled a little at his boldness.

"Jane, my name is Jane Sakaki, pleased to meet you." I took his outstretched hand and he lifted me up onto his dragons back with surprising ease. He looked back at me and grinned.

"Hold on," and with that, we blasted into the silent night.

**I wanted to thank all those who reviewed and followed. I also hope the somewhat not-really-a-fight scene, fight scene was good. I am still looking for reviews on suggestions on Jane's pokémon; I want to build a good team so if I don't pick a suggestion it is because I am meaning to build a strong team from what I would consider strong pokémon. Lastly thanks for reading and I hope that you liked the latest chapter. Oh, and for those that didn't notice, I tend to use Japanese names for the pokémon and even for the characters. I hope that by reading this I have made Mondays a little more enjoyable because that is when I will try to update, every one to two weeks! Before I forget, I have to do the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, I only own the OC's in this story.**

**Saiko= Psycho**

**Drieku= Drake**

**Sakaki= Actual Japanese name, I also can't find the meaning.**

**Actually before I forget, I re-did some stuff in chapter one and even added in a character that you guys will meet very later on so I strongly suggest that you go read it again. Sorry for the change but I felt that it was important for the story and I don't think I can do a socially deprived girl very well, maybe an outcast not completely awkward and socially untaught.**

**-Ja ne!**


	3. Just the Beginning

**Preparing for the Road**

The night wasn't silent for night as my screams broke the silence, when I say we blasted off, I mean we blasted off. We were flying fast enough for my eyes to water… or maybe that was just the terror I was experiencing. In between my screaming bouts, which I used to catch my breath, I could hear Leo laughing. Not only could I hear him laughing but I could feel the vibrations of his laughter through his back sending tingles through my body. I was gripping him around the waist with all I was worth, my chest flush against his back, my arms around his hard stomach.

We were high in the air, the lights of Viridian faint in the distance but approaching rapidly due to the demon Dragonite's insanely fast 'cruising speed'. Damian had told it to cruise so as to not scare me but I was beyond scared, I was terrified! We were several hundred feet in the cloudless sky; the ground was dizzyingly far away. Now I understand why I have read so many times to not look down; it was disorienting. I closed my eyes and let out another shrill scream as the Dragonite did a dive bombed down into the trees and started flying through them at an even faster speed that earlier; causing me to almost lose my spot on her back and grip onto Leo even tighter if that was even possible.

"Dragonite, get up above the tree line." I could practically hear the frown in his voice. It was like the beast wanted to throw me off on purpose! With a grunt of resignation, the dragon pokémon flapped her wings hard causing us to shoot up and narrowly avoid a big oak tree. This in turn caused me to scream again. Forget my quietness, I was on the back of a monster and I wanted to get off!

"Jane, look up at the stars." I heard the faint voice of Leo order me during one of my screaming breaks. Taking deep breaths to calm myself and doing as he said, I looked to the sky and felt all the air leave me in an audible _whoosh_. The sky was alight with stars, all shining brightly and lighting up the velvety black sky. I breathed the fresh night air; smelling the scent of flowers in bloom and wet grass and feeling the cool, smooth air enter and exit my lungs. It was astonishing how much I had been missing trapped at home. Looking forward again, I saw Leo gazing back at me, a puzzled look on his face. Catching my eye, he smiled and turned his head back around, letting me blush in privacy. Forcing the blush to recede, something that the cool wind actually helped with, I trained my eyes on the now near and rapidly approaching city of Viridian. Its lights were bright but the city was anything but bustling. Except for a few cars on the road, there was no sign of life.

Once again, the damned Dragonite showed me how much she hated me by somersaulting in the air and spiraling down to land with a loud thump on the ground once we reached the Pokémon Center. Damian tried to get out but my arms were too tightly wrapped around his torso.

"You can let go you know…" he said.

"I know," I muttered back. My body was frozen though. That last trick that Dragonite had done had caused my muscles to lock up and now I couldn't move.

"Your muscles lock up?" he asked when I didn't move. This was getting embarrassing, here I was on the first night of my journey and not only did I have to be saved from a flock of Spearow, but now I was stuck on the back of a goddamned beast that had scared ten years of my life and I couldn't get off. That wasn't the end of it; I was glued to the back of its trainer holding on for dear life. He chuckled again and I could feel the vibrations running through me, giving me a tingling feeling. Feeling a sudden warmth cover my hands and gentle fingers prying them off, I couldn't help but turn beet red. Once my hands were free, the rest came along rather smoothly. I got control over my arms and legs but instead of just clambering off like a normal person I fell of the Dragonite onto my ass. _Real smooth Jane._

"Thanks for the ride and the save but I gotta go." It somehow didn't feel appropriate to leave it at that, given how much he'd done for me but Saiko needed to rest and I wanted to get him checked out. He was my only partner and I was worried about him, fighting off a flock of Spearow must have had some repercussions.

"Oh, well, you're welcome," was that disappointment in his voice? Nah, I must be hearing things.

With a small sigh, I walked into the dimly lit Pokémon Center. Looking at a clock on the wall, I saw that it was around four in the morning. It would have taken me at least another couple of hours of walking to make it. I looked behind the counter to see not a Nurse Joy but a Chansey.

"Could you check to see if my Gastly is ok?" I ask her in a gentle voice. Crying out her name in reply she took the pokéball that I offered her and walked to a machine next to the counter. She placed it in and pushed a couple buttons on the side of the machine before the slot that it was in started glowing with a soft green light. I took the next couple minutes to examine the room. It was fairly deserted with only a couch and a TV on one side a door on the other. Obviously behind the desk was where the injured pokémon and the Chansey and probably Nurse Joy were resting. I walked over to the door on the far side of the room and discovered a cafeteria whose lights had gone off. I walked back in the room to find Damian standing in front of the counter. The Chansey spotted me and motioned me over to them with her stubby arm. When I reached them, Chansey began saying her name a bunch of times and started motioning a lot with her arms. I stared at her cluelessly, having no idea what she was saying.

"Chansey," I said and held up an arm to stop her, "I have no idea what you are saying, you have me completely lost."

Damian laughed next to me and said, "She said that your Gastly is exhausted and needs plenty of rest and food."

"How did you understand what she said?" I asked him, confused as to how he could communicate with a pokémon that wasn't even his.

"When you travel for a while you kinda get the hang of speaking to pokémon, especially Chanseys because you see them in every Pokémon Center," he explained, "Of course, it also helps when they have a body to motion what they are saying."

I groaned, learning how to understand pokémon was going to take forever!

"Chansey," the egg pokémon was holding my pokéball out for me. I at least understood what she wanted me to do. Reaching over the counter, I took the pokéball out of her hands and clipped it to my belt. She meant for me to feed my pokémon and let it rest. Without even asking me, I wouldn't have understood anyways, she tapped some keys into the computer and a machine next to it spit out a card. Handing me the card, she pointed out the number on it. "Chansey," her voice was stern. So she wanted me to spend the day huh? Guess I can't complain about that considering that Saiko needed to rest.

I felt the straps of my bag break and a thumping noise followed.

"Aww, that was new! It didn't even last a day!" I knew that I was probably acting childishly when I started whining but I had started at midnight and it was barely 4:30 and my bag was sprawled on the floor, torn and beat up. Hearing a snort, I looked behind me, while Chansey was giving me a sympathetic look, Damian was fighting a losing battle on trying not to laugh. Seeing my sour expression finally did it for him. He busted out laughing and bent over, holding his abdomen.

"Ya know, that's probably record time!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, it only lasted me about four hours," I said bitterly, now I was going to have to buy a new bag! He choked back another laugh. I huffed in anger, this was so not funny.

Grabbing my back and turning on my heel abruptly, I stormed angrily to the stairs next to the counter that led to the top floor. Somehow I had totally missed them when I first looked over the room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude!" he called out after me, I could tell from his voice that he did feel bad. I stopped and looked at him through the corner of my eye. He looked guilty and a little down.

I sighed, "Don't apologize Damian, you didn't do anything wrong." I turned my head back around and faced forward. With another weary sigh I climbed the stairs and faced the long hallway that it led to. On either side were doors starting with number 101 on the right. Looking at my card, I saw that my room was number 106. That meant that it was probably on the left side and pretty close; seeing as how the doors didn't have too much distance between them. I started walking and counting doors. When I reached 106 I entered the card into the slot by the handle and walked in. The room was pretty simple; there was a large bed with a nightstand, a TV on top of a dresser and desk with a computer monitor on it. Next to the door that led into the room there was a door that I guessed led to the bathroom.

I threw my tattered bag on the bed and walked to the bathroom. It was a simple design, a toilet next to the sink and shower on the opposite wall the sink was on. I walked over to the sink to where there was a mirror. I nearly passed out when I saw my reflection: my hair was a rat's nest of a mess, my face and arms were scratched up, my clothes were full of holes but somehow my boots had managed to survive albeit a little scuffed. I looked hideous… and Damian had seen me like this… Wait, why should I care if he saw me like this?

Shaking off my mortification and turbulent thoughts, I washed up and went back out into the room to get some clothes. I tried to open my bag but somehow the zipper was stuck. Frustrated and tired I pulled so hard on the zipper that it broke and the bag burst open, throwing clothes, some food and other camping implements all over the floor. Now I felt like crying; today was so not my day. I picked some clothes off the floor and dressed. I then transferred everything in my pants to my new pair, put on my choker that I had taken off during the shower and threw away the tattered clothes, minus the belt; the tough leather belt was miraculously untouched. Making sure my wallet was in my pocket, I left Saiko's pokéball on top of the bed and made my way out of the Pokémon Center, only giving the Chansey that was still behind the counter a brief wave.

I walked outside at around five if the clock on my phone was anything to go by. The sun was beginning to come up and it bathed the city before me in an orange hue. I looked at the map of the city that was rather conveniently in my pokédex and headed to the nearest Poké Mart, which happened to be only five minutes away. I walked through the empty streets, carefully keeping away from alleyways. When I finally reached the Poké Mart, I was stunned. It was huge, with pure white walls and a red tiled roof. Above the glass sliding doors, there was a large glowing sign that said 'Poké Mart'.

The inside was impressive as well; there was row after row of items, accessories, medicines, pokéball and stuff needed for camping. Directly next to the door and right by my side, there was a counter with a bored looking cashier behind it. Ignoring the cashier who looked like he was about to fall asleep, I began looking in one of the camping aisle, searching for a backpack that was going to last me more than the last one. I would hopefully not make a habit of breaking stuff so early into my travels. After several minutes of fruitless searching I found a bag that looked sturdy enough so that I could probably be able to beat something or someone with it without it breaking should the need arise. It was another over-the-shoulder bag but it was made of tough, thick, water-proof nylon and was slightly larger to boot. This was the bag that I was going get. Along the way to the way to the register, I picked up some more non-perishable food and a large bag of ghost pokémon food. After paying nearly a hundred dollars, I walked out, it was still very early in the morning so I went to the Pokémon Center and then to my room. Once inside I took my time in packing everything inside the new bag, excluding the pokémon food, I still had to feed Saiko. Speaking of which, I picked up the pokéball on top of the bed and released him in a bright flash of light.

"_About time you let me out human,"_ he complained.

"You're supposed to be resting," I reply while pouring some food into a bowl.

"_If that food is meant for me then you are forgiven for trapping me in that hateful contraption," _he telepathed, his desperation easy to pick up.

I laughed, "Yes, it's meant for you!" He dashed forward and began scarfing down the food.

Shortly after he finished eating, we headed out. As we left the room, I noticed other trainers in the hallway, all headed downstairs. With Saiko floating over my head, I walked down the semi-crowded steps to the first floor. That's where the crowd dispersed some, about a third of the trainers were headed for the doors and the rest went to the cafeteria. Behind the counter was a Nurse Joy, pink hair and all. I had heard that all the Pokémon Centers had Nurse Joy's, and they all looked alike.

I followed the rush of trainers heading into the cafeteria, where they served free food to trainers. Breakfast was a quite affair with only minimal chatter between me and Saiko. After breakfast, I went to my room gathered my stuff and left the center, ready to leave the city and go through Viridian Forest.

I walked down the semi-empty streets of Viridian with Saiko, taking in the imagery. We were headed to the edge of town so that we could get on our way to the forest.

"JANE!"

I flinched and froze in place, already recognizing the voice. How the hell had she caught up? It was only, I looked at my watch, six in the morning. She shouldn't even be awake at this hour! She always slept until noon during the weekends!

**Kind of dull and boring but how was the chapter? Anything you liked, disliked and even hated, just review and give me some constructive criticism. I am still looking for reviews as to which pokémon you guys want to be on Jane's team. Please give me a reason as to why include them and if you want to how they meet. Guess that's it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, only the OC's and the plot of the story.**

**-Ja ne!**


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